This Week in Yap Archives

A Photo Summary of our dives on a weekly basis

This is our way of showing our prospective clients and friends just what the diving is like in Yap, on a weekly basis. We'll try and keep this updated each week as a photo dive log from our daily dive trips  with photos featuring highlights from our adventures beneath the waves.

Please note that this is what the diving is really like. No paid advertising and no fancy magazine photo spreads. Only real photos from our dives featuring the highlights from that week. If the weather was bad or the visibility was poor, we'll show that too because even in paradise, the conditions aren't always perfect.

 

April 14 - April 20, 2008

 

This is a pretty rare find in Yap. We think it's a juvenile Xyrichtys dea, sometimes called a razorfish or a leaf wrasse. Dave photographed this fish in Miil Channel.
     
 

A Whitelined grouper disguises himself among the soft corals of Lionfish Wall at Yap's southern end.

     
 

This little blenny is so small you can see the individual coral polyps he's resting on.

     
 

Dennis, in the foreground, is from France. Lek, at the far left, is from Thailand and Christian, on the right, is from France and living in Thailand. Their group stayed for two weeks and we had lots of laughs and shared some good times.

     
 

We came back to the dock one day and were greeted by this seahorse almost at our doorstep (any closer and he would have been dry).

He's right up near the surface, with his reflection above him.

     
 

Another photo of the same horse. The only seahorses we've ever seen in Yap were around our dock.

     
 
A close cousin of the seahorse, and much more common all around Yap, is the Pipefish, pictured here. Pipefish can blend in somewhat with their surroundings, as evidenced in the photo.

     
 

Josede (Joe) shows his serious side while Morgan looks on. Two seconds after I took this picture they both broke out laughing!

     
 

Moments after Dave took this photo the animal quickly turned himself over. His eyes are at the top right, and his "leg", on the left, will reach out, grab the sand and flip the whole shell over in an instant.

     
 

This giant clam is Morgan's pet. He's got it hidden where nobody will see it, as they're very tasty and probably wouldn't last long if it fell into the wrong hands :o) Giant clams are not very common in Yap....at least not ones this big, which measures 1.5 ft / (1/2 meter across.

     
 

A close-up of jellyfish tentacles.

     
 

The always-curious Bignose unicornfish. And you thought unicorns didn't exist!

     
 

Rihka descends in Miil Channel.
     
  This is a head-on shot of a Valentinni's sharpnose puffer. Okay, I didn't name it, alright? I just took his picture! Notice the bulging eyes. Kind of like me on Saturday morning......
     

 

 

April 7 - April 13, 2008

 

Dave finally got the camera out of Morgan's hands and took this week's photos.

Here, a Crocodilefish lies in wait among the soft corals of Miil Channel.

     
 

BG and Paul came all the way from Florida, USA to dive with us. BG waves to Dave with the pristine lettuce corals of Miil Channel in the background.

     
 

Local resident Rihka rests on the boat after the dive. For those lucky enough to be diving with us when she joins our trips, you'll have a great time. She's fun, knowledgeable, helpful and a heck of a lot prettier that Dave, Morgan, Mike, Joe and John Paul!

     
 

Not sure what that hand signals means, John Paul. I hope it's not bad, though. I've had lots of bad hand signals thrown my way :o)

     
 
A turtle swam right past us and didn't even flinch.
     
 

Vertigo residents.

     
 
Rihka and coral at Vertigo.

     
 

A Squirrelfish gets cleaned by a Cleaner wrasse.

     
 

A parrotfish gets his beak cleaned by a wrasse at Spanish Walls. By the looks of things, our fish are much cleaner this week.

     
 

Paul, BG, Kasper and Matilda (from Denmark) and Dave saw this rather large nurse shark cruising the reef at Magic Kingdom

     
 

Paul begins his descent into Miil Channel to film the mantas on this "oh-so-clear morning." Dave said it was so clear he thought he could see the Philippines, from underwater. Maybe you better lay off the coffee, Dave!

     
 

Paul films a whitetip reef shark laying on the bottom 50 ft. below.

     
 

As if they came out to greet us, we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by these trevallys.

     
  For our surface interval, John Paul free dives down to the sunken Japanese Zero plane, which, after 60 years, has been overgrown by beautiful hard corals.
     

 

March 31 - April 6, 2008

 

All of the photos this week are from Morgan. He starts of this series with a photo of Cecilia, visiting from Sweden by way of sailing yacht, as she sits on the bottom of Miil Channel waiting for the mantas.

     
 

A pair of Merten's butterflyfish.

     
 

Matt, Seema (hidden behind Matt) and Cecilia head down to Vertigo to see some sharks.
     
 

And sharks they saw!

     
 
Grey Reefs......
     
 

........and Blacktips.

     
 
Matt, Seem and a Blacktip.

     
 

A Moray eel gets cleaned by two cleaner wrasse.

     
 

Guenther and Regina, from Germany, dove with us for eight days and have lots of fun stories to take back home. Guenther is about to do his back-roll into the inky depths.

     
 

And Regina is about to go next.

     
 

A difficult subject to photograph, Garden eels are so shy they recede into their sand holes as divers approach. But somehow Morgan coaxed these two out to pose for the camera. I gotta learn his secret!

     
 

This Bignose unicornfish changes colors, depending on his mood. I knew a gir......oh.....never mind.

     
 

An Orangefin soldierfish with his perpetual frown.

     
  Look at that face! Honestly, I don't know how Morgan gets these fish to smile for him.
     

 

 

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